Vladimir Putin sang patriotic songs with spies expelled from US

Vladimir Putin has told of singing patriotic songs with the Russian spies
expelled from the US in his most revealing comments on the case so far.

The Russian prime minister looked like he was in full campaign mode with an eye on Russia's 2012 presidential electionPhoto: REUTERS

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow

5:58PM BST 25 Jul 2010

During a visit to Ukraine, the Russian prime minister spoke at length about the recent US-Russia espionage scandal that ended in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.

He said he had met the ten failed Russian agents, including 28-year-old Anna Chapman, who had been married to a Briton, and that they had sung patriotic songs together.

“We talked about life. We sang. It was not karaoke but live music,” Mr Putin revealed during a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

“We sang From Where the Motherland Begins,” he added, referring to a patriotic song made famous by a 1968 cult Soviet film about a Russian spy in Nazi Germany.

“I’m not joking, I’m serious. And other songs with a similar content,” he said. The spies have been lampooned in the West as incompetents, but Mr Putin portrayed them as brave people doing difficult jobs for the motherland.